Welcome to a new week! We’ve got a couple things for you today, but first, an important announcement...

In response to reader demand, we’ve launched a new section here at The Bits. It’s our 4K Ultra HD Release List! You can read the section introduction here, and you can find the actual list here. (In the navigation bar at the top of the website, you’ll find it listed under Columns >> Bill Hunt >> The 4K Ultra HD Release List.) You can see all of the U.S. and U.K. titles currently available and also yet to be released – both announced and rumored to be in the works based on our industry sources. (Note that an International list will be added soon for Germany, Italy, France, Japan, etc.) You can also order or pre-order each title via Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk if links are available. We’ve also tried to include codes to indicate which releases are full native 4K, which have object-based audio options, and which have Dolby Vision. And if a title is a standout or reference quality, we’ve tried to indicate that as well. We’re going through and checking all of those codes to make sure they’re accurate (if you spot errors please let us know), and of course we’ll be regularly updating the list going forward. [Read on here…]

Speaking of Sony’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind 4K Ultra HD Gift Set, we’ve had a number of readers ask about the differences between the regular 4K edition and the Gift Set. So we’ve created an unboxing video – yes, you read that right – so that you can see the Gift Set and its contents, including its “light and sound” feature that plays the infamous “five tones” from the film. You can watch that below; it’s probably good for a laugh (and yes, we know the Digital Copy code is visible in the video, and no, it’s not a problem). If this clip proves popular, we might do more, so feel free to subscribe to our YouTube channel...

All right, we’ve saved some great news for last today: Our friends over at the MVD Entertainment Group have just announced the launch of a fine new line of Blu-ray and DVD titles, known as the MVD Rewind Collection! You can visit their page on Facebook here. The line kicks off on 12/8 with a 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD special edition of Lech Kowalski’s D.O.A.: A Right of Passage punk rock “rockumentary”. Extras will include uncompressed mono audio, the feature-length Dead on Arrival: The Punk Documentary That Almost Never Was documentary, a 12-page booklet with liner notes by John Holmstrom (founding editor of PUNK Magazine), a gallery of rare Sex Pistols photos, the original theatrical trailer, reversible artwork, and a 2-sided poster. That’s going to be followed on 1/23/18 by a new 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD special edition of John DeBello’s original Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Extras on that will include uncompressed mono audio, audio commentary by DeBello (with writer/co-star Steve Peace and “creator” Costa Dillon), 3 deleted scenes, 7 featurettes (Legacy of a Legend, Crash and Burn, Famous Foul, Killer Tomatomania, Where Are They Now?, We Told You So!, and Slated for Success), the original Attack of the Killer Tomatoes 8mm short film, the original Gone with the Babusuland 8mm short film that actually inspired the film (with optional commentary), the original theatrical trailer, a production design gallery, radio spots, Easter eggs, and a collectible poster. You can see the cover artwork for both titles below.

Finally today, we need to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of the great laconic actor Harry Dean Stanton. As the good Dr. Jahnke said recently, if you’re not a fan of at least one film starring Stanton, there’s something very wrong with your film taste. He appeared in so many greats over the years, among them Kelly’s Heroes, Cool Hand Luke, Straight Time, Alien, Wise Blood, The Rose, Red Dawn, Escape from New York, Christine, Repo Man, Paris, Texas, Pretty in Pink, Wild at Heart, The Straight Story, The Green Mile and so very many more. Recently, he appeared in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return on Showtime and also HBO’s Big Love. I had the good fortune to meet him once; he was just as cool a cucumber as you’d expect and a gentleman to boot. He will surely be missed, but he’s left us an amazing legacy. Stanton was 91. You can read more about him here at The New York Times.

All right, we’ll leave you today with a look at some cover artwork for titles mentioned above and more (click to pre-order them on Amazon.com, if available)...

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About Bill Hunt

Bill Hunt is the Editor in Chief of The Digital Bits, and the co-author (with Todd Doogan) of the Amazon Top 50 selling book The Digital Bits: Insiders Guide to DVD. Hunt founded The Bits in 1997, in the early days of the DVD format,…

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